I have gotten A LOT done today! I went to work, went shopping for a friend's bridal shower gift, tidied the apartment, did the dishes, wrote and sent my thank-you cards for today and last Friday, e-mailed a large batch of GF recipes, and now... blogging. At last! :) All that's left to do today is wrap the present, make lunch for tomorrow, and talk to D. He said he was going to call last night, but, well, I went to the symphony, so he didn't.

I went to the symphony! For the first time ever! It was wonderful. We dressed up (even though we were all dog tired!) and caught the last symphony of the season. I was really impressed by how unified all the musicians were. I had never seen that many people playing in such perfect rhythm and harmony before. It was a beautiful sight... so complementary to the melodious strains that boldly flung themselves at our balcony seats.

(You're not supposed to take pictures... so I waited until there was a break to take one.)

Even the building was beautiful. The outside was brick and cement, beautifully styled, but the inside of the theater was even lovelier. The soft, muted colors really lent an elegance and luxury that I didn't expect.

So, basically, we had a grand time. But, oh, we were so exhausted when we got home!

H and I had worked the constituency meeting that day (which was a giant board meeting for about 900 people to decide who they wanted to be the leaders of this conference for the next 4 years), which meant that we had to be there at 6:45 a.m. Ugh, ugh, and again, ugh. I'm a morning person by cultivation, not inclination... meaning that I still have a long ways to go before I actually enjoy dragging my carcass out of bed before sunrise.

I didn't really have much to do in the way of work, though. We thought there would be far fewer volunteers than there were, so I got to sit in on most of the meeting. (Most of the work was at the end... cleaning up after a thousand people! Yikes.)

It was... interesting. Sure, sometimes it was boring, because I don't really care about bylaws, or the conference's interest rate on some of their debts. But I did get to witness a large range of human emotion. People watching was fascinating. I don't really know how to put it into words, but I feel like I learned something yesterday, something about people. I just can't put my finger on it.

I really, really want to go wrap that present now. Perhaps I'll get back to this later. We'll see.

I've been practicing enjoying life.

The Serenity Prayer that I learned in CR (I'm trying to get in the habit of praying it every day, and meaning it!) goes like this:

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time, enjoying one moment at a time;
accepting hardship as a pathway to peace; taking, as Jesus did,
this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it;
trusting that you will make all things right if I surrender to your will;
so that I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with you forever in the next.
Amen.

I italicized the part that I'm taking as a personal challenge. Living one day at a time? Yeah, right! I'm always daydreaming about the future... or rehearsing memories from the past. The present is merely a vehicle to get me to the future, where I want to be.

Enjoying one moment at a time? What does that even mean?

Well, as I thought about it, I realized that I tend to live in my head. I daydream. I think about the future. I plan. I make lists. I parse sentences. (Okay, not really.) I schedule. I think about the past. I make up alternate endings for my memories. But I'm not present. I'm not enjoying these moments at all. I'm so caught up in worrying about/planning for/dreaming of the future, or so busy replaying scenes from my past that when I finally get to the future I'm so concerned about, I won't have any memories to replay because I've wasted all my moments focused on something else.

What a horrible fate.

So, I've been practicing being fully present in my moments. How?

Listening. I'm learning to savor sounds.

Have you ever really paid attention to the beautiful symmetry of "everyday" sounds? The gentle rhythm of a sleeping cat, or the whisper of fingers across rough wood... birds calling to and amongst themselves, or the clinking of ceramic and metal as you wash dishes.... the soft padding of feet across a hardwood floor, or the steady dripping and rippling of melting snow... it is all so beautiful.

I feel satisfied, as though I had enjoyed a good meal, when I acknowledge and consciously digest each sound I am hearing.

The clacking of my fingers on the keyboard is a gentle music. My screen is gently shifting in the late afternoon breeze, and it adds punctuation, textural interest. There are so many layers and subtly shifting rhythms that make up the sounds of ordinary life. It's a miniature orchestra.

Life sounds gorgeous. Have you ever noticed?